Note: Harley was a purebred Golden retriever. I didn’t make him up. I was the shelter manager in this tale. I remember clearly which kennel he was in and the various scenes presented here. i.e. It’s not a fantasy. It’s the reality that few people realize. Oh, I should mention that I am the person who very reluctantly killed him. There wasn’t really any “death row” – merely my subjective decision on any given morning. We kept him three weeks – far longer than any other dog I remember.

At two years of age, Harley was in the prime of his life. He could expect many more years of service to his master. Then one day his life changed – his owner died in a car accident. Harley’s owner had left specific instructions for Harley’s future. He was to go to the owner’s brother, Tim. Tim had other ideas. Tim was going through a divorce. Harley went to the pound.

The people at the shelter marveled at Harley. He was already neutered, perfectly trained, beautiful and healthy. He loved kids and other dogs. They had no doubt that Harley would be adopted quickly. On his first day at the shelter, a nice woman walked by who also marveled at Harley. She read the card that told of his attributes and thought that surely he would be adopted quickly. She had decided to adopt from the shelter because of a national ad that showed a starving shepherd puppy in a cage. The caption said that he was on death row. The ad convinced her to go to the shelter and save a life. In the cage next to Harley was a very fearful shepherd type puppy. It huddled at the back of the cage and shivered. It looked just like the pitiful, “death row” puppy in the ad. The woman adopted the puppy instead of Harley. She knew that a dog like Harley would be adopted, but no one would take a fearful puppy. She was there to save a life. She lived through six years of locking her dog outside whenever visitors came to the house. Finally the dog bit a child and was put to sleep.

Harley’s second day at the shelter was much like the first. One man looked at Harley but decided he didn’t bark enough and would be a poor watchdog. The shelter workers realized his exceptional qualities, but potential adopters continued to choose more needy pets. After a week, Harley started to change. He started to get desperate for attention. He needed much more human-quality-time than he was getting from the staff. He started jumping up on the kennel door to try to nudge a passing hand. He began barking to get attention. Then he began barking simply to bark.

One morning Harley jumped up on a kennel worker who was washing out the kennel. The man struck Harley in the chest with his knee and sprayed him with a hose. It wasn’t harsh or harmful and didn’t injure the dog at all. Harley fell to the wet concrete and soaked his beautiful coat with water and feces. There is only so much time each morning to get the shelter cleaned to accept potential adopters. There is rarely time to bathe a dog that is wet and stinky. Most of them were wet and stinky.

The truth started to sink in with the staff. Harley was rapidly becoming unadoptable. He had already stayed several times longer than any other dog in recorded memory. Two families took him out of the kennel to look at him, but he jumped on them and smelled bad. One man decided against Harley because he barked too much. Three weeks after Harley was dropped off at the shelter he sneezed. A little later in the day, he coughed. That night his cough got worse. Shelters can’t keep sick animals. Harley was destroyed the next day.

Harley’s fate is not uncommon. Well meaning people routinely adopt animals for the wrong reasons. Humane organizations that stress the “death row” analogy unwittingly foster this tragedy. The real reason to adopt an animal is to enhance your life. Regardless of which animal you chose, there will always be thousands more that you cannot save. Selecting an inferior animal because you feel sorry for it is a poor reason at best. The grim fact is that there are a limited number of homes for deserving animals. The tragedy becomes ludicrous when healthy, attractive animals are destroyed while defective ones are adopted. If you adopt, seek the best and the brightest. Saving an animal’s life may please you for the moment. Choosing the right pet will feel good for a lifetime.